Phillip's Garden East: an examination of the Groswater Palaeo-Eskimo phase

• Main Author: Kennett, Brenda L.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Memorial University of Newfoundland 1990
• Subjects: Arctic; Newfoundland; eskimo*; Harp Seal
• Online Access: https://research.library.mun.ca/10790/; https://research.library.mun.ca/10790/1/Kennett_BrendaL.pdf

This thesis is based on the excavation of Phillip's Garden East (EeBi-1), a Groswater Palaeo-Eskimo site situated on the west coast of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. The site is interpreted as a seasonal camp occupied by Groswater groups during the late winter and spring and focused primarily on the exploitation of the harp seal migration. Occupation of the site appears to have recurred over a period of approximately 800 years. -- Phillip's Garden East provides important new information on the Groswater phase. The large artefact assemblage contains the first Groswater organic artefacts including a number of harpoon heads. The recovery of an extensive faunal collection is also unique to this Groswater site. Certain artefact traits, a semi-subterranean house feature and a series of ca. 1900 B.P. dates from the site appear anomalous in the Groswater context as it is presently defined. Taken together, the data from the site necessitate a re-examination of Groswater material culture, settlement and subsistence, and culture history. -- The definition of Groswater material culture is broadened to include a number of artefact traits previously excluded from the standard Groswater trait list. Eight radiocarbon dates on charcoal cover the period from ca. 2700 B.P. to ca. 1900 B.P. thus prolonging the Groswater phase by approximately 200 years. The site location and faunal collection suggest a strong maritime focus in at least part of the Groswater economy. The new dates, certain artefact traits and raw material use patterns may indicate limited contact between Groswater and Early Dorset groups in Labrador and Middle Dorset in Newfoundland. -- In a broader context, the enhanced definition of Groswater material culture supports earlier suggestions of close ties between Groswater and Independence II but also points towards similarities with a wide range of late Pre-Dorset and Early Dorset sites from across the Eastern Arctic.